Page 67 of Wham Line
“And tell her it’s extremely suspicious that Jethro didn’t tell us.Oh, and tell her that Indira is innocent and was only trying to cover for Jethro because of her tangled history with Mal and her own unresolved grief about the loss of a child.Oh!And tell her that I figured all of this out through a series of brilliant deductions.And tell her that Jethro is probably being set up.”
Bobby spoke into the phone.“Jethro is Mal’s son.”
And then he disconnected.
“Okay,” I said, “points for brevity—”
“She didn’t answer,” Bobby said as he placed another call.This time, though, he frowned as a voice began to speak.
I scooted closer and pulled at Bobby’s hand until I could hear too.
“—on leave, in case you forgot,” Deputy Dairek was saying.
Deputy Dairek might have been, to put it politely, my least favorite deputy.And that’s including the one who tried to kill me.Among other compelling character traits, Deputy Dairek was loud, opinionated, small-minded, and had once told his mom to, quote,Shove offin the middle of the Keel Haul.He’s lucky Millie’s mom wasn’t around because that would have called for an immediate spanking.Also, word on the street was that one time, in elementary school, he’d pushed his grandpa into the pool.
Like I said: least favorite.
“I know I’m on leave,” Bobby was saying.“But I need to talk to the sheriff.”
“The sheriff is busy.And you’re not supposed to call the station.”
“This is an emergency.It’s about the investigation into Thomas Malick’s death—”
Dairek cut Bobby off with a crow of triumph.“I knew it!I knew it!I knew the two of you were trying to help your friend.”
“Of course we’re trying to help our friend,” I snapped.“It’s not like it’s a secret.”
Bobby sent me a clear message with the way he scrunched his eyes, but his tone was even as he said, “Dairek—”
“Let me guess,” Dairek said over him.“You figured it out.You and Sherlock Holmes junior cracked the case.The rest of us can turn off the lights and see ourselves out.”
“I’ve got important information—” Bobby tried.
“Junior?”I couldn’t help myself.“Sherlock Holmesjunior?”
Fortunately, Dairek didn’t follow up on that.“If you’ve got important information, you can tell me, and I’ll pass it along to the sheriff.”
“Jethro is Mal’s son,” Bobby said.“That gives him a motive.And he doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the shooting.”
“Well, isn’t that a coincidence?Your friend had the murder weapon in her flat.Her prints are on the gun.When the sheriff goes to arrest her, it turns out she’s on the run, and your other friends are accomplices.And now you’ve cracked the case wide open, and surprise, surprise, it’s not your friend.”
“Because it’snot—” I tried.
“How many times do you think that’s going to work?”Dairek said.“Let the sheriff do her job.Keep your nose out of sheriff’s office business.And enjoy your leave.I wishIwas on leave—”
Bobby disconnected.
He took one long, deep breath through his nose.
Take it from me: it’s a lot scarier than when he yells.
“Okay,” he said.“Here’s what we’re going to—”
“We’re going to talk to Jethro?”
I’m not even joking: the entire forest froze.The wind stopped blowing.The trees stopped creaking.The crows stopped, uh, crowing.
Bobby has these remarkable, burnt-bronze eyes that, if I’m being one hundred percent honest, sometimes have this laser-like intensity.
